Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Best Thing

I'm overwhelmed.  I'm tired.  I have pockets of excellence in a sea of mediocrity. My wife deserves more than I'm giving. My two-year-old is challenging every thing I ever thought I knew about parenting--we have put child locks on the freaking upper cupboards, for crying out loud. My other boys need more of me.  Four of my five periods are spent teaching a class we are inventing as we go.  I'm convinced that everything revolves around the scientific method or some variation of it.  Questions still are way more satisfying than statements.  My planning is always weaker than the adjustments I make in the middle of the period.  A good problem is more engaging than engagement strategies, but I don't know enough good problems.  Expo markers dry out way too fast.  Some of my students have bigger problems than I'll ever encounter and somehow I have to make what we do matter. 



And yet, my students keep showing up, my boys still greet me with "I love you, Daddy" and my wife still loves me.  




And tomorrow, I get to be better.  


10 comments:

CalcDave said...

Hear here! I'm praying for you and your family. I like the attitude and progress. You're a good dude and it's nice that people around you recognize it even if you feel overwhelmed.

approx_normal said...

This type of honesty makes me respect and appreciate you even more than I already did. I have so much awe and admiration for what you do in the classroom and your role as a husband/dad. I guess I consider you a "super tweep" who can do it all. But hearing that you have the same concerns/struggles (personally and professionally) that I do gives me some hope that I'm not as abnormal as I thought. :)

Lisa said...

Hang in there, Dave. I think we're all going through similar type things right now. Thanks for sharing what you're going through. It's nice to know I'm not the only one feeling overwhelmed.
--Lisa

Matt Townsley said...

You're still one of those guys I look up, DC. Looking forward to the day our paths finally cross.

Sue VanHattum said...

Thanks for sharing this.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post. I really admire the work you're doing. And I've been totally feeling the same about the planning vs. adjustments, and the dry markers.

iTeach said...

I respect you even more than I already did (and that was a lot) for this post. Thank you for the honesty... I think you said a lot of what we all think but try to hide.

David Cox said...

Yeah, this is why I love this community. Things get a bit crazy and writing just kept getting swept aside. I suppose I needed to just get it out.

Unknown said...

Hello,

I have gone through your post is really nice and your post about Best Thing is very nice I liked it.

Thanks for sharing.

Regards
Abacus

Aloha said...

Hi, nice blog, I would like to tell you that the way you've written is very nice. Keep it up.
Thanks

Abacus